How to order a California Certificate of Good Standing (Certificate of Status) in 24 hours – Ordering Online

If you’re registered to do business in the State of California, for various business or legal reasons you may occasionally need to prove this formally. When you need to show that you’re in compliance with all applicable state requirements, the Certificate of Good Standing is the document issued by the state to certify this.

To obtain your certificate from the State of California, submit a records order to the Secretary of State’s office. The state will issue a certificate bearing an imprint of the Seal of California and the Secretary of State’s authorized signature.

Instead of a good standing, you might want to show that your company was suspended or dissolved and this same status request will certify this. It may also be a business other than your own that you want certified information on. You can also order a certified collection of all the filings on record for an entity, including for example the original articles of formation, the original registration if from out of the state, conversion, amendments, and such.

You can research records using California’s online business search, and you can find more information about records-request forms and fees at the state website here. To obtain a certificate of Good Standing the next business day, we can expedite your request!

WHEN DO YOU NEED A CERTIFICATE OF GOOD STANDING?

You may need a Certificate of Good Standing if you’re involved in a merger or acquisition, or if you’re buying a company outright, or selling yours. The Good Standing certification will form part of the legal documentation of the entity.

Typically, applying for a business loan or line of credit will require good standing certification. Tax matters also can require it – note that you can owe taxes and still be in good standing with California, you just can’t be out of compliance with any of the tax process. Certain licensing requirements may also ask for good standing certification.

Another frequent need for a Certificate of Good Standing is to register to do business in another state ). You will have to determine your full documentation requirements, including expirations. Some states for example require certified status to be less than 30 days old, while some allow 60 days. The California Certificate of Good Standing expires after 90 days.

CERTIFICATE OF GOOD STANDING OR CERTIFICATE OF STATUS?

The Certificate of Good Standing in other jurisdictions may also be referred to as a Certificate of Status or of Existence. In California, it shows that an entity is registered to do business in the state, is in compliance with applicable corporate rules and licensing requirements, and has not been suspended by the state taxing authority, the Franchise Tax Board.

HOW TO GET YOUR GOOD STANDING CERTIFICATE

Currently California doesn’t offer a way to order a Certificate of Good Standing electronically. You can only order by mail or personally through the Sacramento office. The order fee for a Certificate of Good Standing is $5 (with an extra $10 charge if you present it in person).

Requests presented in person can generally be processed by the second business day, while mailed-in requests take 5-15 business days. California does offer a rush service for Good Standing requests.

NEXT STEPS

We can handle your Good Standing request, as with all of your company filings. Contact us for more details.